From Lingnan to the World: The Legacy of Sun Yat-sen University in Shaping Chinese Academia

Today, we’ll continue to talk about Sun Yat-sen University, which has been at the forefront of higher education in China, playing a crucial role in the country’s academic development while nurturing leaders who would go on to shape the country’s history.

Transcript

From Lingnan to the World: The Legacy of Sun Yat-sen University in Shaping Chinese Academia

Today, we’ll continue to talk about Sun Yat-sen University, which has been at the forefront of higher education in China, playing a crucial role in the country’s academic development while nurturing leaders who would go on to shape the country’s history.

Almost simultaneously with the establishment of the Language and History Institute at Sun Yat-sen University, in early 1928, historian Fu Sinian, at the invitation of famed scholar Cai Yuanpei, began organizing the Institute of History and Philology at the Academia Sinica. The early core staff of the Institute of History and Philology largely consisted of the same scholars from Sun Yat-sen University’s Language and History Institute, with many professors holding concurrent positions in both institutions. As the story goes, the Institute’s excavation of the Yin Ruins, the site of the Shang Dynasty capital, brought it international fame, marking China’s first true modern archaeological excavation. “The true origins of this achievement can be traced back to Sun Yat-sen University’s Language and History Institute,” said history professor Cao Tianzhong.

Cao emphasized that the most significant contribution of the Language and History Institute was the creation of a new model for knowledge production, shifting from purely textual research to field investigations. This transformation in academic approach and methodology was what made Sun Yat-sen University a key origin point for disciplines such as Chinese archaeology, anthropology, folklore studies, and frontier studies.

At Sun Yat-sen University, where Sun Yat-sen had endowed the institution with a unique vision, the emphasis on fieldwork was not limited to the Language and History Institute. The university’s Department of Biology, led by Xin Shuzhi and others, conducted scientific expeditions throughout southern China, discovering many new genera and species. In 1928, ichthyologist Fei Hongnian proposed the “Investigation Plan for Marine Products and Fisheries along the Guangdong Coast,” and in July of that year, he led a team to begin the marine resource survey starting from the Qiongzhou Strait, later founding the “Guangdong Provincial Aquatic Experiment Station.”

In 1927, the Guangdong Geological Survey was established and later taken over by Sun Yat-sen University’s Department of Geology. When geologist Feng Jinglan surveyed the areas around Qujiang and Renhua in Guangdong, he encountered “red rock formations resembling steep peaks and cliffs,” which he named “Danxia landforms.” Sun Yat-sen University’s successive generations of scholars continued this work, ultimately creating China’s own system of research on red bed geology and successfully applying for World Heritage status.

Since 1927, Ding Ying, known as the “father of Chinese rice science,” established six rice cultivation experimental stations across Guangdong. Eventually, under his leadership, Sun Yat-sen University students and faculty cultivated the world’s first “thousand-grain ear” of rice, an achievement that would significantly impact rice agriculture worldwide.

In 1932, Zou Lu took over as the president of Sun Yat-sen University for the second time. He placed great emphasis on the university’s close relationship with society, implementing a policy where “professors who had served for five years or more could take one year off for field research or study abroad, with full salary paid.” Cao Tianzhong remarked that Sun Yat-sen University’s scholarship “was not developed by hand or brain alone, but by walking on two feet.”

By 1935, China’s modern universities saw the establishment of the first research institutes. According to the Ministry of Education’s regulations, a university had to have at least three research institutes to meet the requirements for establishing an academic research center. At that time, only three universities met this criterion: Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Sun Yat-sen University. By then, Sun Yat-sen University had developed several institutes, including the Department of Language and History, the Institute of Education, and the Agricultural Research Institute. “From 1927 to 1935, it was the golden age of Sun Yat-sen University,” said Cao Tianzhong. “The university’s overall academic development in the fields of the humanities, sciences, engineering, agriculture, and medicine was strong.”

During this period, the university also expanded its campus, moving from its original site at the National Guangdong University to the Shipaia campus, which covered over 40,000 acres. It was often said that “Sun Yat-sen University is half the city of Guangzhou.” Unfortunately, this prosperity was short-lived. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the university had to relocate three times, only returning to Guangzhou in October 1945.

In 1952, as part of the national restructuring of higher education, the focus shifted to the development of specialized colleges and the reorganization of comprehensive universities. Sun Yat-sen University, one of the most “comprehensive” universities in China at the time, had originally been divided into seven colleges, including arts, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, law, and education, with 31 departments. After the restructuring, the engineering, agricultural, and specialized departments in fields like astronomy, geology, language, and anthropology were transferred out, with Lingnan University’s College of Arts and Science merged into Sun Yat-sen University. The university’s campus also moved to Kangleyuan, where Lingnan University had been located.

This restructuring led to further expansion of the faculty in the liberal arts and sciences at Sun Yat-sen University. The Mathematics Department, for instance, was joined by Jiang Lifu, known as the “Father of Modern Chinese Mathematics,” who had been a mentor to notable figures like Wu Dayou and Yang Zhenning. In 1948, when the Chinese Academy of Sciences selected its members, Jiang Lifu ranked first in the mathematics group. Upon arriving at Sun Yat-sen University, he placed great emphasis on acquiring books and resources for the department. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, when the theory of “the uselessness of reading” was widely circulated, Jiang Lifu insisted that the subscription to the American Mathematical Reviews journal continue, arguing that canceling it would “amount to cutting off the Mathematics Department.” As a result, the subscription was maintained.

The History Department, after the arrival of Chen Yinke and several other famed scholars, grew to include 10 professors, becoming one of the most prestigious history departments in China. Professor Chen Yinke of the History Department is a prime example of intellectual universality. Scholars have described his unique interpretive method as one where realms merge. Cao Tianzhong noted that while people often admire Chen Yinke’s extraordinary memory, what is truly unattainable is not his memorization ability, but his capacity to interpret materials. To approach the truth of history, one must connect and integrate all materials together.

In his later years, Chen Yinke lived in a small two-story red house covered in vines in Kangle Garden. This was where he calmly and leisurely wrote poetry and shut the door during the day. In the 1950s, due to his impaired vision and limited mobility, he could only teach at home. The balcony corridor on the second floor became his classroom. He taught two classes each week, focusing on the history of the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the historical verification of Yuan and Tang poetry. He spoke very slowly in class, and when he came across key phrases, he had to laboriously rise from his cane chair to write on the blackboard. Since he could not see clearly, the words often overlapped, with later ones blending into those before. Even today, the History Department at Sun Yat-sen University has a tradition: students must closely read Chen Yinke’s works.

Though Chen Yinke never worked at the Institute of Linguistics and Philology at Sun Yat-sen University, his academic philosophy aligned with that of the Institute, where he had served as a researcher and head of the History group at the Academia Sinica. Liu Zhiwei, a history professor at the history department, pointed out that from the very beginning, the Institute formed an interdisciplinary tradition. After 1952, as universities across China became more Soviet-oriented, with specialized and departmental education becoming dominant, Sun Yat-sen University was also affected, but the older academic traditions continued.

Several professors interviewed by The Context pointed out that due to its location in Lingnan, the Cultural Revolution’s struggles on the campus of Sun Yat-sen University were relatively mild. Many scholars were able to continue their research during this period and consciously nurtured seeds for future generations. After the Cultural Revolution, they put great energy and enthusiasm into rebuilding disciplines, ensuring the unique academic style was passed down through the generations.

In January 1979, China and the United States officially established diplomatic relations. That month, a delegation from the University of California, Los Angeles visited China at the invitation of Sun Yat-sen University’s president, Li Jiaren, becoming the first American university delegation to visit China after the reform and opening-up period. Three months later, a delegation from Sun Yat-sen University visited the United States, marking the first Chinese university academic delegation to visit the US in the early days of China’s reform and opening.

The result of these mutual visits was the founding of the Guangzhou English Language Training Center, a joint institution between Sun Yat-sen University and UCLA. For a long time, this was the “last stop” for Chinese students going abroad on government scholarships. Students who passed the language requirements there still remember how, before every final exam, American teachers would lead everyone in chanting “TOEFL, TOEFL, I hate TOEFL!” 

As the new millennium arrived, Sun Yat-sen University entered a new phase of development. Zhu Kongjun, Party Secretary of Sun Yat-sen University, told The Context that “Guangdong is located at the forefront and has always been a pioneer in setting trends. Looking toward the next century, Sun Yat-sen University must continue to carry forward the pragmatic, open, and inclusive cultural traditions that have accumulated over its century-long history. It should uphold a broader vision, with greater capacity, courage, and resolve, and align itself with the strategy of building a strong nation, accelerating the construction of a world-class university with Chinese characteristics.”

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Huo Siyi, translator Du Guodong and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.